Review of Reviews, 



Character Sketches. 



159 



Home Ruler, although not particularly enamoured 

 of the last Home Rule Bill, and quite convinced that 

 it is no use trying to carry Home Rule through the 

 Lords until the constituencies have been appealed 

 to on that specific issue. What the Unionists do 

 not at present perceive is that if they should have 

 any success in their effort to force Home Rule to 

 the front as the issue of the present election, they 

 will entitle the majority to consider that it has a 

 mandate to deal with Home Rule. Sir Edward 

 Grey, like all Northumbrians, is capable of putting 

 his back into a fight with the best, but he is not 

 primarily a combatant. He is supposed to be a safe 

 man, with a judgmatical head on him. He has 

 plenty of cool nerve, and it will not be easy fo bluff 

 him at the Foreign Office. He is incapable of 

 bluster. There is a Jingo strain in him, but his 

 Imperialism as a rule— the Boer war was a lament- 

 able exception — is well tempered by common sense 

 and the Ten Commandments. In foreign politics he 

 will say ditto to Lord Lansdowne. Alike in coerc- 

 ing the Turk, in sweetheart ing France, and in keep- 

 ing step with Japan, his policy will be as like that 

 of his predecessor as two peas. But the revolution 

 in Russia may precipitate many problems which at 

 present slumber below the horizon. With Austria- 

 Hungary in disso'ution, with Russia in revolution, 

 and with a Japanesed China beginning to bestir 

 itself to the tune of Asia for the Asiatics, Sir Ed- 

 ward Grev will have small leisure to attend to any 

 other affairs than those of his own office. We may 

 take it for granted that he will do nothing to pan- 

 der to the Germanophobes, and we trust that when 

 the second Hague Conference meets he may not 

 be less zealous than was Lord Salisbury to use that 

 international parliament for the purpose of securing 

 and consolidating international peace. 



The rest of the Cabinet must be dealt with in 

 groups. First comes the Irish group. For Ireland 

 is always with us, and it is in vain to hope that the 

 Trish question will not make itself felt every session 

 of the new Parliament. It is probable that for the 

 first time since the Irish national party came into 

 existence the Liberals will be independent of the 

 Irish vote. But that only increases the responsi'o'.'iitv 

 of the predominant partner to handle the Irish 

 question with firm and sympathetic grasp. The 

 Irish group in the Cabinet consists of the follow- 

 ing men: — C.-B., Mr. Morley, Mr. Bryce, Mr. Burns, 

 Lord Ripon, and Captain Sinclair. The anti-Irish 

 group consists of Sir Henry Fowler, Mr. Haldane, 

 and Mr. Asquith. It is perhaps unfair to call them 

 anti-Irish. It would be more just to describe them 

 as the party of the Right, as distinguished from the 

 party of the Left. All the members of the Cabinet 

 were Home Rulers. But Sir Henry Fowler has lost 

 his first love, and the vice-presidents of the Liberal 

 League are — to put it mildly— not very passionate 

 in their devotion to the Irish cause. 



It is probable that the most important members 

 of the Administration, so far as Ireland is concern- 

 ed, are not in the Cabinet. Lord and Lady Aber- 

 deen, at Dublin Castle, and Sir Antony MacDon- 

 nell, the permanent Under Secretary, will probably 

 have more to do in shaping the policy of the Ad- 

 ministration than Mr. Brvce. It is doubtful whether 

 Mr. Bryce would have accepted the Chief Secretary- 

 ship if it had not been made quite clear that Irish 

 po.icy is to be directed from Dublin rather than 

 from Westminster. Mr. Bryce is getting on in years, 

 and although he is vigorous enough to spend the 

 recess in foreign travel, he naturallv shrank from 

 having to live a kind of shuttlecock existence be- 

 tween Dublin Castle and the Irish Office in London. 

 It- is expected that Lord and Lady Aberdeen will 

 carry on Lord Dudley's policy of administering 

 Irish affairs in accordance with Irish ideas, 

 without the brake constantly applied to the 

 late Viceroy's sympathetic heart by the Orange 

 bridge. Sir Antony McDonnell was sent 

 to Ireland by the King to settle the Irish question 

 on the lines laid down by Mr. Wyndham. The 

 moment he attempted to grapple with the problem 

 of retrenchment, the threatened interests evoked 

 the bogey of religious bigotry, and' for the last two 

 years Sir Antony's administrative genius has had 

 no scope for exercise. When Mr. Long left Dublin 

 Sir Antony was unmuzzled, and he will be given a- 

 free hand to prepare the way for the transfer of 

 the whole control of local Irish affairs to the Irish 

 people. Mr. Chamberlain calls this Home Rule on 

 the hire system. But on the hire system or the 

 instalment plan the purchaser obtains his goods 

 down at once, and pays for them in instalments. 

 The Irish are not to have Home Rule at once. 

 Quite the contrary. But every measure of the Ad- 

 ministration will have the establishment of Home 

 Rule as its avowed aim. 



The first question to come up will not be Home 

 Rule, but the problem of the evicted tenants. Five 

 thousand of them are still without holdings. Mr. 

 Redmond and his party will probably regard this 

 as a touchstone of the courage and capacity of the 

 New Cabinet. Nothing is more obvious than that 

 something must be done. The Irish are fading 

 away before our eyes. Twenty years of resolute 

 government, Lord Salisbury's panacea, has been 

 tried. The result is that the population of Ireland 

 has diminished five hundred thousand in ten years, 

 and there is a slump in the value of all Irish stocks 

 and shares which might alarm even the most in- 

 different. Tt is a good thing that the Cabinet is 

 strong and young. It is to be regretted that Mr. 

 T. W. Russell has no place in the Administration. 

 But there will be no lack of pressure from below to 

 keep the Government up to the mark. 



After Ireland comes the Colonial group. Here 

 again the most important member of the Govern- 



